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10 Reasons Why We’re Obsessed With Shawn Mendes

July 7th, 2014

If you haven’t heard of Shawn Mendes yet, just wait a few minutes. The 15 year-old from Toronto is on the cusp of catapulting himself into superstardom, filling the hole recently left by his Canuck pop predecessor, Justin Bieber.

A self-taught artist, Mendes has ushered in a new era of social media and music, making Vine the new Myspace for record labels who are looking to find the best artist no one has heard of…yet.

After uploading stirring and emotional covers of everyone from Bieber to OneRepublic to Mendes’ idol Ed Sheeran onto his Vine account, which as of today has amassed over 2.7 million followers, Mendes created a buzz around himself that was big enough to score him a major record deal with Universal Music. And it seems as though the teen has more than enough talent to live up to the hype.

Check out our top 10 reasons why we’re obsessed with Shawn Mendes. We think you will be too.

1. He can make Times Square look like New Years Eve.

Shawn recently attempted to perform for fans in Times Square, but was forced to shut the performance down early because there were too many fans. In Times Square. Too. Many. Fans. Times. Square. Just a reminder, he still hasn’t released an EP or full album. The world may literally explode when either or both of those things happen.

2. His Vine feed is literally hours of fun.

We literally have spent hours watching videos like the one below. We’d feel bad about, like, not reading a book or planting a garden or something with that time, but Shawn has 2.7 million followers. We’re obviously not the only ones obsessively watching six second videos from Mendes.

3. He’s the real deal.

Shawn has written three original tracks for his upcoming self-title debut EP, which is due out July 28.

4. He’s homegrown.

Mendes grew up in Toronto and has been repping Canada on his travels. The teen even stole the show from the fifth floor balcony during the MMVAs, catching the attention of fans during the biggest block party of the year. Now that’s impressive.

5. His lyric video for Life of the Party is the sweetest.

6. His cover game is on point.

Mendes beat out thousands of applicants to win Ryan Seacrest’s Best 35 Covers competition with his rendition of A Great Big World’s Say Something. This video is a prime example of how Shawn scored the top spot.

7. He’s a heart AND record breaker.

Shawn recently broke the record for youngest artist to debut on the Billboard 100 top 25 at under 15 years old. Don’t think about what you had accomplished at 15, it’s just depressing.

8. He’s down to earth.

From staying connected to his devoted fans through social media to making announcements about his new single while walking to school (seriously, is he just walking to school here? How cool is that?) Mendes hasn’t let his newfound fame go to his head.

9. These numbers don’t lie.

The numbers surrounding Shawn Mendes are what pop star dreams are made of. His social media following is off the chart, as the third most-followed celebrity on Vine, the same site that Shawn first used to upload his videos and grab the attention of the music industry.

#ShawnsFirstSingle was trending worldwide only 15 minutes after his single Life of the Party was announced, taking the top spot away from #WorldCup. His first Toronto show sold out in 24 hours and he has 30 dates lined up this summer as the opener for fellow teen pop star, Austin Mahone.